now guy morning maryland." -- now, good morning mayland." fire sweeps through a baltimore county home. what may have helped the family escape. the wisconsin budget battle nears the boiling point. and can we have one more day. nfl labor talks get a extension until midnight tonight. good morning. i am charley crowson.

>> i am megan pringle. happy friday. yesterday, it was a little deseek because the sunshine was so -- deceiving because the sunshine was so glorious but it was chilly. >> let's ask justin will it hang around. >> good morning. we have a little transition going on. the clouds have made their return. but we get a boost in our temperatures. currently a south, to southeast wind enhancing the moisture. clouds appear to move from west to east on the screen. get used to the clouds. they are with us for a few days. and we are looking at no moisture out of the clouds. cool temperatures at 28 in baltimore. it's 29 back towards hagerstown. a weekend washout is possible. rain is on the way. most of saturday will be dry early. showers will arrive late, but sunday is the rain day. rain could be heavy at times with potential flooding. when we expect the quick down downs of -- dousing of 1 to 2 inches of that. here's kim with traffic. >> reporter: thanks. mta service is on schedule.

local bus service is on schedule but there are diversions on the 11, 20 and 30 bus lines. here at 95 at 195, we don't havereport any reported accidents. traffic is moving well in both directions. in baltimore city there are a pair of water main breaks which has lomb bard street closed -- lombard street closed. now back to you. >> thanks a lot. firefighters are on the scene of an overnight fire. it happened more than three hours ago when firefighters were called out to a house fire in the overly community near 609 dale avenue. that's where we find abc2 news linda so with a live report. linda, sort of a happy ending in this one. >> reporter: yes, charley i. think the family is very happy they made the decision to welcome a puppy to the family recently. because they say it's the puppy who actually woke them up. let me paint a picture. it was around 2:30 this morning

when the puppy started to yap, woke the son up and the son saw the house was on fire and called 911. and they were able to alert fire officials that the fire was going on and then he ran and woke everyone else up. they were able to get out safely but they are thanking their puppy for wake them up. this fire happened at 6 09 dale avenue. it started in the second floor apartment. the son was living in that apartment. it was converted to an apartment and it started in the kitchen or living room. for fighters, when they got -- firefighters, when they got here, were able to contain it quickly to the second floor. they are work on the cause of this -- working on the cause burks they are happy -- cause, but they are happy no one was hurt and they are tanking -- thanking their puppy for doing that. really -- a really happy ending.

you don't want something like this to happen, a fire destroying a home, but that family is counting their blessings this morning and thanking their puppy that they were able to get out safely. we are live in overly, linda so, abc2 news. >> thanks. today, the governor of wisconsin is threatening layoffs unless democrats return to vote on the so-called budget repair bill. the state rep was tackled by police as he tried to enter thecapitol yesterday. representatives walked past officers where they were guarding a door, opened and struggled with officers before they took him to the ground. see there on the screen. meantime, amid the demonstrations, they have left the statehouse after 17 days of protests. >> budget woes in maine as well. in augusta, current and former state employees raily to maintain pension and -- rally to maintain their benefits.

. >>i was looking forward to a little retirement here, you know. my pension is my social security. i don't think it's right to be messing with something that's been agreed on in the past. >> under the proposal the cost of living increases would be frozen for three years then perm innocently capped. also retireees will be forced to pay part of their health care benefits using a tiered system with newer hires paying on a different scale. and this morning, pittsburgh is dealing with major budget issues as well. unless the city can get a handle on the out of control pension costs for firefighters and other public workers, local leaders have said that they are facing financial armageddon. >> i think we are headed that way. the reality is -- >> armageddon? >> heading towards very different scenarios. >> pittsburgh can't meet the obligations to the pension system to the tune of $700

million. 5:36. a budget -- budget woes in the nation's capital. about 1600 nurses at washington hospital center plan to walk off the job. nurses in the hospital are at odds over payment for weekend and overnight hours. they want to pay a flat rate for a shift rather than percentages to the salary. nurses say that means they will be paid less for working the same hours. >> for some nurses, we are talking about as much as 20,000 dollars being taken out of their pocket per year. >> the strike is scheduled for one day. hospital officials say the nurses that walk off the job will be locked out for five days because they have to bring inreplacement workers. 5:36. london is gearing up for the 2012 olimb fix. picks. >> we will -- olympics. >> we will tack you where the rings are un-- take you to where the rings are unveiled. could spring be around the corner? some experts say yes because

they are looking at the charry blossoms. we will ex-- cherry blossoms. we will explain.

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the true sign that spring is around the corner. and the national park service expert is predicting early bloom for washington's gorgeous cherry blossom. and he says we can expect the bud to bloom in late march the festival runs from march 26th to april 10th. now maryland's most powerful doppler radar and forecast certified most accurate by weatherate. >> 5:41. look back at yesterday. it was beautiful looking day. all be it a bit chilly. down to annapolis after that sunrise, just a few high thin cirrus clouds across the sky and the -- the skies are blowing in that direction. winds have not been a major issue. we clouded up at the naval academy. brooklyn park at 29 degrees. we expect to have a day that will be mostly cloudy but push

up to 48 with a breeze this afternoon. we stay dry today and bring in a lot of rain this weekend. we will talk about that. here's kim with traffic. >> reporter: right now it's a very easy right on the area roadways. we don't have make accidents or any major delays. 695 at liberty road on right hand part, traffic is building and slow down a little bit toward i-70. no major problems on the 83s or 95s. we have some water main issues in baltimore city. east lombard street closed between central and eden street. and one lane blocked westbound north avenue at rutland for water main repairs. now back to you. >> thanks a lot. a big event in london. take a look. >> 3, 2, 1. >> wait for it. and the wait is so ever. the giant set of olympic rings has been unveiled. the start of the 2012 olympics

is less than 17 months away. olympic organizers will place more rings around the city during the course of the next year. you can't text and drive but reading the text behind the wheel what about that? >> what about that? that proposed law banning such activity could be decided today by the maryland senate. and can you give us one more night? the nfl players and owners are asking for that in the negotiations as an extension. we will look at that when we come back. [ woman ] thursday! finally!

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now, "good morning maryland." 15 minutes away from six. new this morning, crews are looking into what caused a fire at a baltimore county home. this started around 2:30 this morning on dale avenue in overlea where we find linda so. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the good news is that everyone in the family was able to get out safely. initially when the call came in, they had reports of mullet p -- multiple people trapped- side. but they are -- trapped inside. they say the puppy started toyap and that woke up the family and they got out shall they got out safely. a single family house, what happened here, this son who was

like on the second floor that happened to be converd into an apartment area. the puppy started to yap and woke the son up. the son saw the house was on fired and called 911. the dispatcher could hear lots of noise, and the fire wasroaring and the son was coughing. he had to happing up because the family was -- he had to hang up because the family was still inside. by the time firefighters got here, everyone was out safely. power people inside the home, including the puppy, got out safely. firefighters were able to attack the fire pretty quickly and get it contain to the second floor. and the-- in the kitchen and living room area. but no one was hurt in this fire. and actually they are starting to clear the scene. everything is under control. the road is opening back up here on dale avenue. but this family is counting their blessings. and they will be staying with their neighbor, but, again, that puppy, they are saying is the one who helped them through the fire and got everyone up and out. and now fire crews are clearing this scene so it's a happy

ending. live in overlea. >> thanks so much. the nfl and players will resume talks this morning. the deadline has been extended. both sides have until 11:59 to reach a deal on the new labor contract. late yesterday afternoon, both sides agreed to have one more day to talk about the collective bargaining agreement. however, by all accounts,there's much tore hammered out. but getting the extension is better than nothing when you think about it. today's talks are not expected to be face-to-face. each side will meet separately with a federal mediator. the state senate will vote monday on a bill making it illegal to read text while criesk. it received approval in the house and currently it is illegal to write texts and now they aim to get rid of texting altogether for those behind the wheels. there were 208 citation issued for texting while driving last year. baltimore county official also take up a measure to help

support a family of a fall envolunteer fire fight -- fallen volunteer firefighter. it would apply to mark faulkenhan. he died fighting a fire. it would provide an annual payment to his widow and son based on his salary and pension from when he worked as a career firefighter for the county. the defense contractor north upiumman is getting -- north rup grumman is getting ready to cut -- to make cuts: so today you can join chick- fill-a to recognize highsketchup. pick up a fee proceedium order -- recognize highs ketchup. pick up a free -- recognize

heinz ketchup. you can pick up free fries. now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar and the forecast certified most accurate by weatherate. >> it was a pretty day. it was a chilly day. it was a pretty chilly day yesterday. after hitting 62, we only made it to 39 on target with the two degree guarantee in baltimore for thursday. 39 degrees also running about 10 degrees below normal, but there's warmer weather to the south. it works its way back in towards the weekend and into the next storm. on the 4th of march, normal numbers, very round numbers. 30 in the morning, and 50 in the afternoon. the record low in 1873. 1923 goes back that decade to find heat this time of the year. they were up to 80. the sun comes up at 6:35. it will be mostly cloudy skies. there may be sunshine. we are seeing the early morning satellite imagery showing clouds eroding across the

mountain. but we have a lot of moisture here. and we are starting to pick up more of a south eastern kink to the wind with high pressure in control. that high pressure is off the coast. that dominates our wind flow out of the southeast. that drags in more moisture off the atlantic. and it helps to fill in the clouds. there are holes in the clouds. most mys moisture is to the west. developing -- most moisture is to the west. we are going to have two to four inches of rain to soaked sections of the ohio valley from ohio to indiana and leading into the mississippi river valley. this will pass off towards the east of the going on in through sunday morning, that is when we start to ramp up our efforts and chance of getting rain. so the first part of the weekend will be dry. we expect showers start to develop late on saturday and saturday night and solid shield of ran approaching us as we head in through sunday. this is indicating that the heaviest of the rainfall with the frontal bondry moving through and probably bring

central maryland between one to two inches of rainfall that could lead to minor flooding but will lead to a wet end to the weekend. for today, though, mostly cloudy skies. peekaboo sunshine. getting up to a seasonal high of 52. we will continue to keep that mild trend with the cloudy skies. we will go to 40 overnight. and we will not have rain most of the day on saturday, there will be some showers arriving towards the evening. it will be a warmer day. temperatures pushing up to 58. you will notice 50s but a morning high with more rain on sunday. >> reporter: so this morning, mta service is on schedule. if you are taking the metro subway, marc train, light rail commuter or mobility bus, there are diversions on local bus for the 11, 20 and 30 lines. in terms of driving, you will look pretty good once you make it to the roadways. checking the beltway on the west side, no reported problems. no major delays at either if you make your way southbound on

95 from white marsh towards 695 and towards the 895 split. traffic is moving very well. a pair of water main break issues in baltimore city. east lombard closed between central avenue and eden and westbound north avenue, one lane is taken away at rutland for some repairs there. now back to you. this is the last person you would expect to see arrested. >> up next, the rantings of a man of the cloth caught on tape after being taken into custody following a car accident. see what this woman's rampage looked like in a liquor store. don't tell her last call. see the damage she did inside this business as "good morning maryland" returns. [ male announcer ] what if you could combine

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5:55. making news around the nation this morning, police in south florida are questioning a man in the death of two children. investigators say the victim's bodies were found in a canal stuffed in luggage. the authorities have not confirmed their identities. -- >> i assumed the children come from here. >> authorities say the girl is between 6 and 10 years old. the boy is between 10 and 12. investigators believe the kids

are siblings. check out the video. a woman going on a bottle breaking rampage in a liquor store. the clerks at the new york liquor store says she came in and jumped in front of customers waiting in line. she began arguing and then asked them to use the rest room. when the clerk told her no, she walk to the back of the store and began cleaning house. every shelf along the way as well. a priest arrested for driving under the influence in his bizarre -- and his bizarre behavior at police station was caught on tape. we want to warn you you might find some of this disturbing. the police chief says the priest was three times the legal limit and once inside the holding cell, it was all about to show. >> i will given you the sermon on the mound. [audio not understandable] >> police say the rant lasted 20 minutes during which the priest threatened officers numerous times.

a popular salon you may have gone to to get a manicure or pedicure or some other perk. >> one of the workers has been charged with stealing credit cards from customers and running them into debt. also coming up, how your weight could be affecting the way you are being treated. and can you dance? how a certain chemical in your body could determine whether you can bust a move or not. that is my excuse. px

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